Veterans Recruitment Program (Preliminary Proposal)

Washington State

Veterans Recruitment Program (Preliminary Proposal)

Report to the Legislature

As required by Senate Bill 5849 (Chapter 192, Laws of 2017)

Office of Financial Management State Human Resources January 2018

Table of Contents

Executive summary...................................................1 Background ............................................................... 2 Private sector outreach .............................................3 Enterprise veteran analysis.......................................4 Recruitment program proposal options .....................6 Human resources needed.........................................9 Summary and recommendation ..............................10 Appendix A .............................................................11

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Executive summary

In 2017, the Washington State Legislature passed Senate Bill 5849 (Chapter 192, Laws of 2017), which states:

(1) The office shall develop a recruitment program that targets veterans and gives them credit for their knowledge, skills, and leadership abilities. In developing the program, the office shall consult with the department of enterprise services, department of veteran affairs, the state military transition council, the veterans employee resource group, and other interested stakeholders. Program development must include, but is not limited to, identifying: (a)Public and private military recruitment programs and ways those programs can be used in Washington; (b) similar military and state job classes and develop a system to provide veterans with experience credit for similar work; and (c) barriers to state employment and opportunities to better utilize veterans experience. (2) The office shall report to the legislature with a draft plan by January 1, 2018, that includes draft bill language if necessary.

Underpinning this law was a concern over the number of veterans in the state workforce and their declining numbers. The percentage of veterans in the executive branch workforce (8.9 percent) remains higher than the availability of the population of veterans in Washington state (7.6 percent).1 However, the hire rate for veterans has declined over the past three fiscal years from 8 percent in fiscal year 2014 to 6.5 percent in fiscal year 2017.2 Compared to the rest of the executive branch, veterans in the state workforce have a higher than average retirement rate and a higher average age. The higher retirement rate for veterans, coupled with the higher average age, suggests that the percentage of veterans in our workforce will continue to decrease over the next several years.

To reverse this trend and in response to the enacted legislation, OFM State Human Resources contacted Amazon and Starbucks Corporation to learn more about their veteran recruitment processes. Both organizations have made investments in their military recruitment programs, including the expansion of these programs to include spouses. From both companies, OFM learned that about half the skills needed to successfully work for them were already part of a veteran's portfolio, and that the other half could be learned through on-the-job training. We also learned that the key to the successful recruiting, hiring and retention of veterans as employees was the use by these companies of teams whose members were familiar with military culture and whose main purpose was to find qualified applicants.

With respect to the charge to develop a veterans recruitment program, four options are provided for consideration:

? Option 1 is a continuation of the current level of services. ? Option 2 enhances current services through the addition of two dedicated enterprise-

level veteran recruitment resources. This option would include developing a state-specific military translation crosswalk, creating an enterprise-wide military culture training and implementing agency mentorship programs. ? Option 3 is an all-encompassing plan. It includes the components from options 1 and 2, plus the creation of a veteran recruitment team. This team would reinstitute an enterprise-level veterans fellowship program and create a veteran recruitment team to provide additional coordination and support. This option would require four additional employees.

1 This percentage does not include higher education institutions, which do not use HRMS. Population data from the American Community Survey 2013-2015. Data accessed from Public Use Microdata Sample includes all veterans age 16 and older. 2 HRMS

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? Option 4 asks for one more year to conduct a more thorough analysis of other organizations' military recruitment programs and identification of additional strategies and resources needed to bridge the transitional gaps from military service to state service. This is the option that OFM recommends to ensure a comprehensive, thoughtful and data-driven system to improve the recruitment and retention of veterans in the state workforce.

Background

Washington state government is fully committed to successfully recruiting and retaining talented and skilled veterans in the state workforce. We recognize the value of extensive training, experience, leadership and transferrable skills gained through military service while also acknowledging the challenges associated with implementing a successful recruitment and onboarding process.

The Office of Financial Management State Human Resources Division (State HR), in collaboration with the Department of Enterprise Services, employed a planning and strategy specialist and a recruiting/technology consultant who reviewed veteran recruitment strategies during fiscal year 2013. Many of the strategies they helped develop were introduced at the enterprise, or statewide, level and State HR and DES partnered with agencies to recruit veterans through a collaborative effort. During this time, the new veteran hiring number increased 1.4 percent. For this effort, Washington won the National Association of State Personnel Executives' Eugene H. Rooney, Jr. award for innovative programs.

By 2015, however, State HR and DES could no longer sustain these two positions, and recruitment efforts declined. The number of veterans hired then dropped by 1 percent in 2015 and continues to decrease. (An examination is provided in the Enterprise Veteran Analysis section of this plan.) Without dedicated resources at the enterprise level to guide work, targeted efforts are not possible as most agencies do not have sufficient resources of their own.

This is a crucial point as we have found that we are more successful in recruiting and retaining veterans as employees if we approach these tasks at the enterprise level, not the individual agency level. At the enterprise level, we can display in one location the array of state jobs available, who to contact about those jobs and how to ask for more information about those jobs. It's common sense: A one-stop shop is far more convenient, and more likely to be used, by a customer than a collection of individual shops.

It is also important to note the Department of Defense has moved from downsizing the military to retaining and growing its personnel numbers. The Army will increase its force by 17,000 soldiers, the Air Force by 4,000 and the Marine Corps by 3,000 by 2018. With this shift in federal policy, the state of Washington will need to be even more competitive with the private sector to attract and keep veteran hires.

In 2017, the Washington State Legislature passed Senate Bill 5849 (Chapter 192, Laws of 2017), and the Governor signed it into law on May 4. It directed OFM to develop a recruitment program for veterans that provides credit for knowledge, skills and leadership abilities. In response, OFM established a work group composed of representatives from the Governor's Office, Washington Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington State Military Transition Council, DES, Department of Licensing, Employment Security Department's YesVets, Washington Student Achievement Council and the state's Veterans Employment Resource Group.

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Private sector outreach

OFM is also required to reach out to private sector organizations to learn more about their veteran recruitment processes. We contacted Amazon and Starbucks Corporation to gain an overview of their military recruitment programs and ascertain if there were best practices we could replicate. This outreach included determining the resources we would need and the time, energy and cost of using those resources. We saw that the key to both companies' success is having military recruitment programs with dedicated staff, along with comprehensive resources and meaningful support at all leadership levels.

Amazon

Amazon has invested in several veteran recruitment programs with national outreach. It has identified its business needs and where military skill sets intersect with functional areas. This process is undertaken by its military recruitment teams, which are staffed by veterans who understand military skill sets and rank structures. In their work, these teams found that veterans already possess 50 percent of the skill sets needed to work in the operations side of Amazon's business. The other half is Amazon-centric technical skills, which are easily mastered through training.

A military recruitment program team comprises members from three functional areas: operations management and specialty paths; high-volume hiring; and Amazon web services. All three functional area teams, in turn, have dedicated regional military recruitment teams, each of which is composed of approximately 20 staff.

Amazon offers apprenticeship opportunities and a military leaders program for emerging IT specialists and operations managers. Amazon has also created an employee resource group, Amazon Warriors, to develop veterans to deliver exceptional results at Amazon, enable Amazon to make the best use of veteran talent and give back to communities through volunteer efforts.

Starbucks

Starbucks has invested in several strategies to scale hiring across the country, with a 2018 goal of hiring 10,000 veterans and spouses. So far, it has placed 5,500 veterans and spouses in its workforce. The company has created a field guide for hiring managers on engaging the military community. The resource covers topics ranging from Military 101 to hiring and onboarding veterans.

Starbucks has hired four military recruiters in targeted cities across the country. These individuals have made more than 80 connections with military bases, and installation transition and educational offices, both in the United States and overseas. Company staff have attended more than 200 military hiring events across the nation, reaching out to separating service members and their spouses. It has also expanded its employee resource group, Starbucks Armed Forces Network, from one to 12 regional chapters. These groups connect veterans outside Starbucks with job opportunities and veterans inside Starbucks to each other, thus creating a mentorship pipeline across the company to ease transition from military to civilian life.

Both companies understand the value of military skill sets, which can be readily transferred to employment they offer. They do not screen out veteran applicants due to a lack of technical skill sets, recognizing that these can easily be taught. Both companies have built a culture that supports hiring managers and military recruiters to work closely throughout the recruitment and onboarding process. Both have expanded their veteran recruitment programs to include spouses and family members.

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